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Mr Brown’s own workaholic style means he often burns the midnight oil and makes phone calls to aides before the crack of dawn.

Baroness Ashton's short term has been plagued by a series of contentious decision, leaving some to question her judgment. She upset her colleagues in Europe when she did not fly to Haiti immediately after the earthquake that claimed 250,000 lives.

She initially dismissed the idea of the trip as ‘disaster tourism’ but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew there within days of disaster striking.

French officials and politicians are aghast at her poor French.

Her biggest blunder to date has been missing a joint EU and NATO security summit in Majorca - despite also being the head of security for Europe.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband - who other European leaders lobbied to apply for the role - recently had to write to her, to tell her how to do her job.

He warned her that she risked losing a power struggle over her 5000-strong civil service entourage.

Baroness Ashton’s lucrative contract expires in 2014 but few think she can cling on that long.

The peer - who has never been elected to any political post - has hit back at her critics and promised to be more assertive.

Tony Blair recruited the then unknown Baroness Ashton in 1999. Labour colleagues were surprised when she was elevated to Leader of the Lords in 2007 but her most recent promotion as one of Europe’s most powerful politicians has sparked disbelief.

She is married to YouGov pollster Peter Kellner and has five children.

Mr Brown has been besieged with accusations that he is a ‘bully’ after reports that he shouted at staff and shoved one aide out of the way.

But the claims have done little to hit Labour’s poll ratings, which show there is still enough support for the party to stop the Tories winning an outright majority.